Making Votes Count with Proportional Representation
Council notes:
· Within Europe, only the United Kingdom and authoritarian Belarus still use the archaic First Past the Post (FPTP) system for General and Local Elections. Whilst internationally, Proportional Representation (PR) is used to elect parliaments in more than 80 countries.
· The UK’s First Past the Post voting system curtails voter choice, making millions of votes ineffective, and leaving millions feeling unrepresented and unheard.
· MPs and other elected representatives would better reflect their communities, leading to improved decision-making, wider participation and increased levels of ownership of decisions taken.
· PR is already used to elect the parliaments and assemblies of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Council believes that:
· The FPTP system has contributed to dangerous levels of distrust and disillusionment with our democratic processes and politicians.
· It is essential that faith is restored in our democratic system and that the public see Parliament as fairly reflecting their views.
· Our First Past the Post voting system is a significant barrier to restoring this faith and all but guarantees that the balance of opinion among the electorate is not reflected in Parliament.
· A system of Proportional Representation in which seats match votes and all votes count equally would help to rebuild public trust by ensuring that all political views are represented in Parliament in proportion to their level of public support.
Council therefore resolves:
1 To write to His Majesty’s Government calling for a change in our outdated electoral laws to enable Proportional Representation to be used for general and local authority elections.
2 To call upon Exeter’s two MP’s to push for a change to electoral law to permit Proportional Representation and to promote the matter for debate within Parliament.
Minutes:
Councillor Bennett, seconded by Councillor M. Mitchell, moved a Notice of Motion in the following terms:-
“Making Votes Count with Proportional Representation
Council notes:
· Within Europe, only the United Kingdom and authoritarian Belarus still use the archaic First Past the Post (FPTP) system for General and Local Elections. Whilst internationally, Proportional Representation (PR) is used to elect parliaments in more than 80 countries.
· The UK’s FPTP voting system curtails voter choice, making millions of votes ineffective, and leaving millions feeling unrepresented and unheard.
· MPs and other elected representatives would better reflect their communities, leading to improved decision-making, wider participation and increased levels of ownership of decisions taken.
· PR is already used to elect the parliaments and assemblies of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Council believes that:
· The FPTP system has contributed to dangerous levels of distrust and disillusionment with our democratic processes and politicians.
· It is essential that faith is restored in our democratic system and that the public see Parliament as fairly reflecting their views.
· Our FPTP voting system is a significant barrier to restoring this faith and all but guarantees that the balance of opinion among the electorate is not reflected in Parliament.
· A system of PR in which seats match votes and all votes count equally would help to rebuild public trust by ensuring that all political views are represented in Parliament in proportion to their level of public support.
Council therefore resolves:
1 To write to His Majesty’s Government calling for a change in our outdated electoral laws to enable PR to be used for general and local authority elections.
2 To call upon Exeter’s two MP’s to push for a change to electoral law to permit PR and to promote the matter for debate within Parliament.
Councillor Pearce moved and Councillor Parkhouse seconded the following amendment:-
“The removal of the words “and local authority” in the proposed resolution 1”
Councillor Pearce, in presenting the amendment, stated that he was doing so with reluctance as, although he had been a long standing advocate of PR, in supporting the entire motion without the removal of the suggested wording, he would be going against the policy of the Constituency Labour Party who supported electoral reform and PR for General Elections but not for Local Elections. He stated that he was pleased that so many people from different parties supported electoral reform.
During the debate on the amendment, a Member also welcomed the growing support from so many for PR across a number of political parties and stated that it did not matter what level of government an election related to, voters deserved the opportunity for their votes to matter. Referring to the May 2022 elections in Exeter, she suggested that the results reflected the unfairness of the existing system. She stated that she could not support the amendment, as introducing PR for one level of government and not another was inequitable.
In accordance with Standing Order 27, a named vote on the amendment, was recorded, as follows:-
Voting for:-
Councillors Allcock, Asvachin, Atkinson, Bialyk, Branston, Denning, Ellis-Jones, Ghusain, Hannaford, Knott, Lights, Morse, Packham, Parkhouse, Pearce, Snow, Sutton, Vizard, Wardle, Warwick, Williams, and Wood.
(22 Members)
Voting against:-
Councillors Bennett, Harvey, K. Mitchell, M. Mitchell, D. Moore, J. Moore, Reed, Rees and Sparling
(9 Members)
Abstain:-
The Lord Mayor
Councillors Holland, Jobson, Leadbetter and Newby
(5 Members)
Absent:-
Councillors Foale, Oliver and Wright
(3 Members)
The amendment was CARRIED and became the Substantive Motion:-
During the debate on the substantive motion, Councillor Jobson, as the leader of an opposition group, referred to both the 2011 referendum on electoral reform when the public had rejected PR and to the referendum on Scottish Independence in 2016, when it had been agreed that it would be a once in a generation event. She suggested that the 2011 referendum should also be treated as a once in a lifetime event. She did not feel that the Government should commit time and money on a re-run of the 2011 referendum and therefore would not be supporting the Motion.
A Member made the following comments:-
· everybody’s vote should count and be equal to everyone else’s. The only votes that counted were the ones for the person at the top of the poll;
· no Party since 1935 had won a General Election with over 50% of the votes cast and that was a national coalition. In two General Elections, the party that came second and lost the election got more votes nationally than the party that won the most seats;
· the present First Past the Post (FPTP) system discouraged greater public participation and low turnout numbers undermined local democracy and, as parties focussed on marginal seats, safe seats could be neglected at election time;
· opponents of Proportional Representation (PR) refer to postal vote provisions and longer voting hours but, if people felt that their vote did not count, they still would not vote;
· convincing people that their votes count was preferable to a compulsory system;
· PR could result in coalitions but many local authorities function on this basis and it would be inappropriate to exclude PR for local government elections;
· in spite of objections to PR systems, both Conservative and Labour governments introduced differing forms of PR over the years, such as in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland;
· in England, elections for directly elected mayors and Police and Crime Commissioners have just reverted to the FPTP system;
· PR was centre stage at this year’s Labour Party Conference;
· when people believe their vote counted they do vote, with an example being the 2016 Referendum on EU membership; and
· PR systems allowed people to vote for what they wanted, rather than tactical voting or lending their vote to stop a party they oppose.
The Notice of Motion, as amended, was put to the vote and CARRIED.